In the Line of Duty
by Crystal Volcheck
Summary: The mission should be simple; take down the Pigeon, by any means necessary, before he reaches the commissioner. However, there's something Skipper isn't telling the team, or at least isn't telling Private. -picks up where A Deal with the Devil left off- BASED ON 'IN THE LINE OF DOODY'
1. Chapter 1

******Disclaimer: I have no claim to the rights of the Penguins of Madagascar, nor do I make any profit from writing this piece of fiction which was inspired by The Penguins of Madagascar.**

******Author Notes:**

**This is a direct sequel to A Deal with the Devil, although you don't have to read that story first, it does make everything easier to understand. That also means that this story does belong to Park Avenue. **

**There is also a pairing in this fic, so I'm sure all you Skilene fans will be excited, especially for the second chapter. Where there are also little hints of my personal OTP, which should be easy to figure out. But that's that the next chapter, not this one.**

**But for now enjoy!**

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**In the Line of Duty**

_"You can't handle the truth!" - Col. Jessep from the film A Few Good Men_

Now that everything was settled from the Mr. Tux incident, something that Skipper would be making up to Private for years to come, the leader enjoyed the idea of taking the day to relax and bond. Especially after the divide that occurred, he probably owed Rico an apology based on how Kowalski had chewed him out yesterday as well. A sharp chirp caught his attention and he looked over to where Private was sitting, cell phone in hand, the boy looked up at him owlishly.

"Skippa, who's Frankie?" The words struck him like a freight train; he hadn't heard that name in years, at least not since Denmark. If it really was Frankie then one wrong move could plunge the globe into World War III or at the very least expose CENTRAAL and their allies' secrets.

"Movie night is cancelled until further notice boys. Kowalski call up HQ tell them Frankie is back, Rico run a security check, and Private you tell Kid to get the hell out of whatever he got himself in to." While Kowalski and Rico disappeared to complete the tasks they had been given, Private was looking at him confused.

"Skippa?"

"Listen, I know Kid threatened the team, but no one and I mean no one deserves to get mixed up with Frankie. It's like playing with an atomic bomb." He wouldn't wish Frankie on his worst enemy; the man was a sociopath and a criminal genius. Nothing like Dr. Blowhole, of course, he was more of a mad scientist. Frankie was a master tactician and knew exactly how to get under a person's skin and exploit their weakness. Even if the person didn't realize what their weakness was. Moreover, Skipper already knew where Frankie would hit them.

"Incoming transmission, 10 minutes." Kowalski spoke rushing back into the room, switching the television on to a secure feed and activating the camera. After a tense silence, the screen was filled with face a of young CENTRAAL agent, her expression was neutral, she had one hand on the one side of her headset and the other typing rapidly, after a few seconds, her hand dropped and she began to speak.

"Commander Davis, the Director has been notified of your situation, he believes that Frankie's target is Commissioner McSlade. Your orders are to take Frankie down by any means. Lethal force has been authorized failure is not an option. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"The full details of your task are being sent, you should be receiving them momentarily." The agent stopped typing and brought her full attention to Skipper. "Frankie was selected for a reason, but so were you. That bastard has been slipping through our fingers for far too long; it's time to end it. Best of luck and remember, never swim alone."

The transmission ended just in time for Rico to enter the room with a manila envelope in hand. "Security clear."

"Good, but don't expect it to stay that way for long." Skipper took the envelope from Rico and opened it pleased to see that they had faxed Frankie's file over, however after 2000 there was no further information. "Kowalski we're going to need eyes and ears down at the new Children's Center; McSlade is going to be there and security isn't going to be tight enough. Rico-"

"What the bloody hell is going on?" The sudden shout brought everyone's eyes to Private, the young Brit looking beyond irritated.

"Maybe it's best that you tell him, Skipper. He needs to know what we're getting in to." Kowalski's voice was gentle, but it did dissolve some of the building tension.

"Alright, a little more than twenty years ago CENTRAAL came up with Project: Alpha, it was their version of Group 13, except instead of one group there would be multiple, smaller groups of three. In theory, it worked, but the regulations were lose and some unsavory characters slipped through psych evaluation, they also didn't take in to consideration compatible personalities." The words came easily, which was not something he had been expecting, then again he had told it before to Kowalski and Rico years before. "Anyway, one of these teams was made up of Hans, Frankie, and me. We were on a mission in Denmark, it was simple, Hans was looking for any connection between ambassadors and global crime syndicates, I was control if anything went wrong and we were ready for that. However, we weren't ready for Frankie to be what went wrong, he planted false evidence and pointed at Hans and myself once all was said and done. Of course, Hans shifted the blame completely on me and I was made public enemy number one."

"Wait, how did that make you unable to step foot in Denmark?"

"It was the deal CENTRAAL managed to strike with the government, as long as I never stepped foot in Denmark they wouldn't charge me with, well, that part is still classified." It was not, but he couldn't bring himself to say what he had done, he had never been able to. For weeks after the fact it left him unable to sleep, he had been ready to quit and move to Alaska and become an angler the rest of his life.

"If CENTRAAL knows that Frankie's behind it, why didn't they do anything about it?" Skipper visibly flinched at Private's next question, prompting Kowalski to step in.

"Frankie disappeared from the grid, only showing up long enough to prove he was still around or somehow connected to some catastrophic event. He's not your everyday sociopath. He's a genius. There was no way to connect him to the crimes. In other words, he's a Pigeon, can't tell him from the rest." At Kowalski's words, Skipper began to feel sick, even his lieutenant was covering for him. He wondered what Private would think of him if he knew the truth that Frankie had found him years earlier before Project: Habitat went into practice, and that he could have finished Frankie then, but let the man go.

"Then why here? Why now?"

"It doesn't matter, what matters is that he's here and we're going to take him down." The words came out harsher than he had intended, even Rico was looking at him with raised eyebrows. "I'm sorry Private, but there's more hanging on this mission than you realize. If Frankie gets away, it could be years before he makes an appearance." A heavy silence settled over the team, it was several minutes before Private spoke, his tone indifferent.

"What's the plan?"


	2. Chapter 2

**********So sorry for taking so long, but between studying for my Praxis exams and the holidays I don't have as much time as I though I would have. After the 28th I'll be free of 90% of my responsibilities, or at least I should be.**

******Author Notes:**

**What I had planned for this chapter turned out to be longer than I wanted, so I cut it in half and will have the rest of it in the next chapter. Which means this chapter is like all Skilene and really nothing else. I didn't go as far in to Skipper's personality/relationship with Marlene as I wanted, although I really believe that he's a sensitive, caring guy, but he grew up thinking that it made him weak. So he really doesn't know how to handle emotion well and puts up a lot of walls, but Marlene, being this no bullshit action girl sees right through it and knows exactly how to get Skipper to open up at least a little bit. I'm hoping to show more of that relationship as the series and stories progress. Another way to put it is, for this story I'm really hoping to create parallels between Skipper and Private, my headcanon is the Private is what Skipper was like when he was younger, so that is a priority over completely flushing out Skipper and Marlene's relationship.**

**Well, enough of technical stuff, happy reading!**

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**In the Line of Duty**

_"Don't tell me how, his honor will still keep him alive and then rattle off something hopeful."- Parabelle 'Kiss the Flag: The Widow'_

Skipper bit the inside of his cheek as he waited outside of Marlene's apartment door with a bag of take out in hand. He wasn't nervous, at least that's what he was telling himself, he was merely concerned.

"What did you do this time?" He could hear the smirk in Marlene's voice as the door swung open, she was looking at him with a raised eyebrow and a rather unimpressed expression.

"I brought dinner."

"Come on in." It looked like she had been in the middle of painting or possibly just finishing up for the day. A cherry blossom tree on the far side of the living room and a palette of various pinks on a nearby table proved he had in fact interrupted. "Just give me a minute to clean up; I don't want to ruin any brushes."

As Marlene washed her brushes, he set the food out on the coffee table and took his jacket off. He couldn't help but shake the feeling of guilt, his men were preparing everything for tomorrow and he was having a dinner date. However, being at the base was suffocating there was still tension between him and Private. Beyond that his past was coming back to bite him in the ass and that was enough to make anyone uncomfortable.

"So, uh, how has work been?" The words were tangled together and he mentally kicked himself, the look on Marlene's face as he took a seat next to him on the couch and offered him a fork, screamed that she knew something was up. It was near impossible to hide anything from her, she could see through his false bravado and flimsy lies.

"Okay, what's really going on, because you hate it when I talk about work."

"What? I can't ask my girlfriend how work went."

A small chuckle escaped Marlene as she used an extra pair of chopsticks to put a wonton on her plate before speaking, "Anyone but you."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Skipper on the other hand stabbed an eggroll with the fork Marlene had given him, reflecting his irritation.

"I know you Skipper, I may not know everything about you, but I _know _you. Something's up or else you wouldn't be randomly knocking on my door with take-out. Not that I mind, but it makes me worry."

"This is why I avoid relationships, because that's all you'll be doing. You're going to worry and I don't want you to. Tonight, I just want it to be about us, because tomorrow I have no idea what's going to happen."

"What did you get into?" The fear in Marlene's voice was so raw that he couldn't bring himself to look at her. The room grew thick with tension and the two abandoned their meals, Marlene grabbed his hand, nails digging into his skin. "What's going on?"

"I'll tell you if you promise me one thing."

"I won't make a promise until I know what I'm promising."

"Marlene, just stay inside tomorrow, don't go near any windows, and don't answer the door unless it's me, okay? Can you promise me you'll do that?"

"Okay, I promise. Now tell me why." He hesitated, it wasn't as if he couldn't tell her but sometimes it was easier not having her know everything. Yet, it was only right to let her know the danger she was in tomorrow if Frankie knew about her.

"An old acquaintance is coming in tomorrow, he knows exactly how to manipulate people, he can figure out your weakness within two minutes of meeting you. And as much as I hate to say this, my men aren't prepared to face someone like that. Tomorrow will be one of the most dangerous positions I've ever put them in." _And you, you're in just as much danger. _He continued in his mind, not quite able to actually say the words. "And it's my fault that they're in that position, I had the chance to take him out years ago, but I couldn't pull the trigger."

"Skipper…" Marlene was rubbing circles with her thumb against the back of his hand across his knuckles. He couldn't believe how calm she was and he couldn't believe that he was telling her these things, but he couldn't keep holding it in.

"Then, I keep seeing everything that could happen, everything that Frankie could do to take my team down, because I know my boys' weaknesses. If you want to get Rico, you take out Kowalski, if you want Kowalski then separate him from everyone else and disarm him. Private is too trusting, just say that you're turning over a new leaf and he'll believe you."

"What about you?"

"I get too emotionally involved, if any one of my boys gets hurt or worse, then Frankie knows he has me. He knows how weak I am." Hurt flickered across Marlene's face.

"I don't believe you're weak, I believe that makes you human. What I can't believe is that you're doubting your team, you know sometimes your greatest weakness can be your greatest strength. Were you honestly telling me that if some tried to take Kowalski out, Rico wouldn't do every last thing in his power to save him or literally nail whoever tried to, to the ground?" She was ranting now, walking around the living room and gesturing wildly with her hands. "Or that Kowalski couldn't think his way out of a tight situation, because I've seen him make plasma saws using blueberry bubble gum. As for Private, he's not as trusting as you think, he's been hurt. Enough that he can shut down and be a completely different person."

"Marlene!" Skipper snapped grabbing her arm and pulling her back over to the couch, "you made your point, calm down." And she had, her words were buzzing around his skull and he realized that he had been wallowing in self-pity.

"About time it clicked, for someone so macho you need an awful a lot of reassurance." A chuckle escaped him and he smiled at her, it was as if a weight had been lifted of his shoulders. "But seriously, you're not weak Skipper, and you shouldn't hold back. Your team will follow you to the end of the Earth and I can't imagine my life without you." Marlene bit her lip suddenly nervous and Skipper realized that she was still doubting his feelings for her. He tucked a few stray strains of hair behind her ear and caressed her cheek.

"I can't imagine my life without either, thank you, Marlene." The words were soft, dripping with sincerity and a thousand words that went unspoken. A sweet chaste kiss followed and the night was finally about them or at least until another thought hit Skipper. "As much as I'd like to keep the moment going and possibly spend the night, I need to go apologize to the team."

A disappointed sigh escaped Marlene, but Skipper owning up to his mistakes was a rare occurrence and she wasn't about to get in the way of him apologizing willingly. "Can we at least finish dinner before you go running off?"


End file.
